Alumni College, Riverkeepers: Guardians of the Environment
Doug Chapman '58, the Fraser Riverkeeper in Vancouver, Canada, and Bob Boyle, who helped found the Riverkeeper movement, discussed their roles in the environmental movement to a Kennedy Auditorium packed with alumni. Boyle spoke about the path to establishing the Hudson River Fisherman's Association, an environmental group that protected the quality of the Hudson River and later grew to the larger Waterkeeper Alliance, a collection of conservation groups which now protect around 200 bodies of water worldwide. Chapman spoke about his role as an environmental prosecutor and the legal battles for environmental issues in the present day.
Boyle discussed how his involvement in environmentalism originated from his love of fishing as a boy when visiting the countryside in the summer. After he became a correspondent for Sports Illustrated, he discovered a corrupt irrigation contract through which farmers hoped to drain a lake that was a vital breeding area for waterfowl. By writing an expose in the magazine, he was able to "save" the lake temporarily. When he moved back to New York in the 1960s, he found the Hudson river was "a mess" due to pollution, and conceived of a way to combat the problem by starting an organization to act at the local level. He thus gathered others to found the Hudson River Fisherman's Association, a group dedicated to protecting the river.
Legal challenges by the group brought some early successes. Using the Federal Refuse Act of 1899, a law that had been forgotten but was still on the books, the Fisherman's Association was able to bring the "first fine ever levied on river pollution... in the U.S." against the Pennsylvania Central Railroad and collect half the value of the fine as a reward, which they used to invest in more resources to protect the river. By continuing legal challenges and gathering money from foundations, the organization was able to grow from a shoestring budget (with one employee earning $100 per week) to a $2 million budget by the year 2000. In the process, the group inspired hundreds of other Riverkeeper groups throughout the U.S. Boyle believes this movement has the potential to become "the greatest grassroots movement in the United States," because a very large number of people use rivers, whether for sightseeing, fishing, boating, or swimming. In these legal challenges, Boyle said the group relied on the principles of science and the law, gathering a large number of scientific experts on pollution and aquatic biology to testify on pollution issues.
Chapman spoke about his role as an environmental prosecutor in Canada for the provincial government and the Sierra Legal Defense Fund, a path he entered after studying criminal law at the University of Toronto. While the laws in Canada do not give as many opportunities for citizens to sue, he had some success using the Canadian Fisheries Act to earn monetary rewards for reporting polluters; by winning a case against the city of Hamilton, his Waterkeeper group was able to purchase a boat to patrol Lake Ontario to report on pollution. Chapman was proud of the fact that "not all our charges led to a conviction, but all have led to cleanups," with millions of dollars spent to repair damaged areas.
Chapman originally worked as an environmental prosecutor for the provincial government, a job he found frustrating because "government was in bed with the polluters," frequently giving polluters protection and refusing to punish corporate directors who had made environmentally harmful decisions. He was proud that when he left the prosecutorial job, the policy had changed to try individuals, and he was involved in the first trial in Canada to send an individual to prison for an environmental offense. Currently, Chapman is prosecuting environmental cases in Vancouver (to address harmful sewage treatment in the Fraser River), Kingston (to address arsenic contamination), and against DTE, a U.S. coal company that is charged with engaging in mercury pollution across the U.S.-Canadian border. This last case would set a new precedent if it was successful, since it would establish that polluters could be held liable across country lines. Both alumni concluded with some warnings about the dangers of government to the environment.
Boyle commented that the government is a "big offender" in pollution, because many governmental officials have a sense of impunity; for example, the Pentagon is the largest polluter in the nation, producing more hazardous waste per year than the top three chemical companies combined. In addition, politicians often protect corporations from prosecution, and governmental officials frequently move to companies after their public service to advise companies on how to manipulate the pollution system.
Because of these issues, Chapman recommended that we look for change on important issues like global warming to come from non-governmental organizations like the Riverkeeper alliance that both alumni have played a vital role within.
-- by Kye Lippold '10
Doug Chapman '58, the Fraser Riverkeeper in Vancouver, Canada, and Bob Boyle, who helped found the Riverkeeper movement, discussed their roles in the environmental movement to a Kennedy Auditorium packed with alumni. Boyle spoke about the path to establishing the Hudson River Fisherman's Association, an environmental group that protected the quality of the Hudson River and later grew to the larger Waterkeeper Alliance, a collection of conservation groups which now protect around 200 bodies of water worldwide. Chapman spoke about his role as an environmental prosecutor and the legal battles for environmental issues in the present day.
Boyle discussed how his involvement in environmentalism originated from his love of fishing as a boy when visiting the countryside in the summer. After he became a correspondent for Sports Illustrated, he discovered a corrupt irrigation contract through which farmers hoped to drain a lake that was a vital breeding area for waterfowl. By writing an expose in the magazine, he was able to "save" the lake temporarily. When he moved back to New York in the 1960s, he found the Hudson river was "a mess" due to pollution, and conceived of a way to combat the problem by starting an organization to act at the local level. He thus gathered others to found the Hudson River Fisherman's Association, a group dedicated to protecting the river.
Legal challenges by the group brought some early successes. Using the Federal Refuse Act of 1899, a law that had been forgotten but was still on the books, the Fisherman's Association was able to bring the "first fine ever levied on river pollution... in the U.S." against the Pennsylvania Central Railroad and collect half the value of the fine as a reward, which they used to invest in more resources to protect the river. By continuing legal challenges and gathering money from foundations, the organization was able to grow from a shoestring budget (with one employee earning $100 per week) to a $2 million budget by the year 2000. In the process, the group inspired hundreds of other Riverkeeper groups throughout the U.S. Boyle believes this movement has the potential to become "the greatest grassroots movement in the United States," because a very large number of people use rivers, whether for sightseeing, fishing, boating, or swimming. In these legal challenges, Boyle said the group relied on the principles of science and the law, gathering a large number of scientific experts on pollution and aquatic biology to testify on pollution issues.
Chapman spoke about his role as an environmental prosecutor in Canada for the provincial government and the Sierra Legal Defense Fund, a path he entered after studying criminal law at the University of Toronto. While the laws in Canada do not give as many opportunities for citizens to sue, he had some success using the Canadian Fisheries Act to earn monetary rewards for reporting polluters; by winning a case against the city of Hamilton, his Waterkeeper group was able to purchase a boat to patrol Lake Ontario to report on pollution. Chapman was proud of the fact that "not all our charges led to a conviction, but all have led to cleanups," with millions of dollars spent to repair damaged areas.
Chapman originally worked as an environmental prosecutor for the provincial government, a job he found frustrating because "government was in bed with the polluters," frequently giving polluters protection and refusing to punish corporate directors who had made environmentally harmful decisions. He was proud that when he left the prosecutorial job, the policy had changed to try individuals, and he was involved in the first trial in Canada to send an individual to prison for an environmental offense. Currently, Chapman is prosecuting environmental cases in Vancouver (to address harmful sewage treatment in the Fraser River), Kingston (to address arsenic contamination), and against DTE, a U.S. coal company that is charged with engaging in mercury pollution across the U.S.-Canadian border. This last case would set a new precedent if it was successful, since it would establish that polluters could be held liable across country lines. Both alumni concluded with some warnings about the dangers of government to the environment.
Boyle commented that the government is a "big offender" in pollution, because many governmental officials have a sense of impunity; for example, the Pentagon is the largest polluter in the nation, producing more hazardous waste per year than the top three chemical companies combined. In addition, politicians often protect corporations from prosecution, and governmental officials frequently move to companies after their public service to advise companies on how to manipulate the pollution system.
Because of these issues, Chapman recommended that we look for change on important issues like global warming to come from non-governmental organizations like the Riverkeeper alliance that both alumni have played a vital role within.
-- by Kye Lippold '10
